I’ve always loved a good mystery, good suspense, a good
thriller (not the horror variety). I guess that’s why I gravitate toward shows
like Blue Bloods, 24, Criminal Minds, Broadchurch
and the like. But I also like that genre embedded within others, like science
fiction, for example. That’s why I’m a Michael Crichton fan. Books like Jurassic Park , Timeline, and Prey are all mystery/thriller/suspense works woven around the good
intentions of science gone horribly wrong (with Timeline, there’s a great deal of history as well!). So, I have the
Blake Meyer series going (international thriller), have written The Serpent’s Grasp (a science fiction
thriller), have written a manuscript currently titled The Letters, which has been described by one of my readers as “A
Christmas Carol-esque without the ghosts,” meaning it’s a paranormal,
speculative fiction work with a strong mystery/suspense side to it (much like
Dickens’ work). And it has some humor as well. J And in my spare time,
I’m developing a young adult character based on Sherlock Holmes with which my
writing critique group members have fallen in love. They say this manuscript
may be the best thing I’ve written yet, and the cool part about it is, I’ve
developed it to start out as young adult fiction, but as the characters grow
up, they stay together and eventually I’ll have an adult fiction series with
the same characters.
Besides when you came
to know the Lord, what is the happiest day in your life?
Wow, that’s a hard question, because there are really four
days that fit that bill. First and foremost was the day I married Cindy Lawson.
At the age of eighteen, we were young and in love, and most people said it
wouldn’t last. And although we’ve been through our fair share of trials (at
times it seems unfair), if it wasn’t for our relationship with God, we would
have been another negative statistic about marriage by now. Satan has
definitely been at work. But as I heard it stated once, “The general never
tries to destroy his own troops. He uses them. So, if old Lucifer is attacking
you, he must see your good works and wants to derail them, or he expects you to
do good things, and never wants those to get off the ground.”
The second, third, and fourth happiest days of my life were
when our three daughters were born. And because we have endeavored to raise
them to love God and follow Jesus, that’s reason enough for Satan to be upset.
He hates it when we help increase the numbers of God’s family.
That is so true. How
has being published changed your life?
Well, it’s added about 30-40 hours to my work week…that
already had 40-50 hours spoken for as an assistant principal (currently at a
middle school). J
Joking aside, it’s given me so many wonderful friends who do the same thing.
It’s also changed the way some people look at me. Some people think I’m nuts
for wanting to write anything. Others see it as “cool.” They ask all sorts of
questions about “what it’s like to be a published author.” At writers’
conferences, when I mention that I won a Selah award, agents’ and editors’ ears
tend to perk up a little more. But through it all, I’m still the introvert who
forces himself to “get out there” and promote his work in a publishing world
that seems to change with the wind these days.
What are you reading
right now?
I’m reading some research on a topic a friend of mine and I
are thinking about tackling. We are both in the field of education, and we both
see many things that could improve, if certain things changed. So, we’ve been
having some discussions, and plan to start meeting once a month to develop
those ideas into an outline and eventually the first three chapters and a
synopsis of the rest. Then we’ll see where it leads.
I’m also reading the first book in the Jesse Stone series by
Robert B. Parker, Night Passage as
well as The Lost City of Z by David
Grann. I just finished for the second time (because I use it in my other job) The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller. I
highly recommend that book to any first year teacher or college of education
student. She’ll save you years of grief, especially if you plan to be a
language arts or reading teacher.
I’m a notoriously slow reader and usually have 2-4 books
going at once.
When we married, my
husband didn’t like to read, and I hadn’t written a book. Now I have had 45
books published, and he likes to read, but he is really slow. What is your
current work in progress?
I currently have three projects going right now. First, is
Book 4 of the Blake Meyer series, When
the Clock Strikes Fourteen. It continues the story of the first three books
in the series (readers are going to love what Blake does in this one), and will
jettison readers into the final two books in the series. The series has been
constructed like a season of 24,
wherein each book would encapsulate roughly four episodes if it were to be made
into a teleplay (hint, hint, nudge, nudge, know what I mean?), and because it
has been built this way, I decided to incorporate an aspect of time into each
title as it fit that section of the story. Another project I’m working on is
the one I already referenced (the young adult series). I sit down when I have a
little time—but not time enough to get hip deep (like I have to do with the
Blake Meyer series)—and carve out a few pages. It’s still got a ways to go, but
so far, the reviews have been excellent. I’ll reveal more about this once I
have it done, which hopefully will be by the end of the year. Then, there’s the
non-fiction educational work my friend and I are planning. Oh, and I’m toying
around with the idea of writing the screenplay to The Serpent’s Grasp. Between Jurassic
World and Meg, there seems to be
a hunger for this stuff at the box office, right (no pun intended)?
What would be your
dream vacation?
I’m a simple guy. Although I’d love to travel the world and
see many things, sitting on a balcony in New Smyrna Beach, about five floors up,
facing the ocean, is heavenly enough for me. That’s not only a dream vacation,
it’s a dream lifestyle. If I owned a condo there, I’d have no reason to ever
leave. However, if you press me, I would love to see Hawaii
and Australia .
Maybe even New Zealand
while I’m down under.
Those three are on my
list of dream vacations, too. How do you choose your settings for each book?
I choose them where I believe they make sense, would be
believable, etc. The Letters is set
in NYC because of the main protagonist’s mother, who lives in a psychiatric
hospital and has been somewhat of a test subject. My Blake Meyer series,
because of it being an international thriller, is set in Florida ,
Zurich , Paris , Texas , Russia ,
Haiti , Ukraine , and
other points as needed. The Serpent’s Grasp
is set primarily in Miami , but uses other
locations in Florida and the Bahamas , but its main setting is the Atlantic Ocean .
If you could spend an
evening with one person who is currently alive, who would it be and why?
I think it would probably be Steven Spielberg. As a
storyteller, I’m always looking to expand my horizons, and learning the craft
of screenplays and looking at the world through the lens of film would be
helpful to not only understand that industry, but it would also help me in the transformation
of words on a page to scenes on a screen. In addition, with his heritage, I
think it would be interesting to hear his perspective on the nation Israel and the
Old Testament. So, I guess we are talking about one long evening, huh? Lots to
talk about.
What are your
hobbies, besides writing and reading?
Who has time for hobbies? I get up often at four in the
morning to write (like I did this morning) for about two hours before I have to
start getting ready for work. I’m usually at work between 7:30 & 8:00. I’m
there until usually 5:00 or later, depending on what’s happened during the day
and whether or not we have evening events. Then it’s back home to eat dinner
and spend some time with Cindy. By 9:00 p.m., I’m wiped out. Usually in bed by
10:00-10:30. But you know what? This writing thing was a hobby years ago that
turned into what amounts to a second job. So, I can’t complain. I’m doing
something I love, and now I get paid for it. Another thing I love to do is play
the drums/percussion. I used to have my own drum set when we were first
married, but I had to sell it when we moved the first time. I have never owned
my own set since, but I have played in two praise teams at church along the
way, and will be joining a third one soon since we changed churches to be able
to attend church with our daughters and their families.
What is your most
difficult writing obstacle, and how do you overcome it?
I never have an issue with writer’s block. I know some of my
writer friends do, but I have so many ideas waiting in the wings. My obstacle
is time. Like I described above, carving out time to write has to be strategic
and disciplined. Otherwise, it will never happen. I’ve done the math…if writing
was all I did, then I do believe churning out 4-6 books a year would not be
difficult. However, with things the way they are right now, two a year is more
reasonable.
What advice would you give to a beginning author?
Don’t quit. You’re going to get rejected. You’re going to be
told your writing isn’t good enough. You’re going to get discouraged. It will
happen over and over again. Even after you are published. But don’t quit. Even
Frank Peretti, J. K. Rowling, and the like got/get rejected by editors, got/get
negative reviews. So, don’t quit. Believe in what you are doing. Be flexible
and teachable. Just like in the Christian walk, the best disciples (and thus
writers) are FAT disciples (Faithful, Available, and Trainable). Always look at
your writing with an editor’s eye. Always look at your career as one more step
of growth. And always keep everything in perspective. I’ve often thought that
even if I was the “James Patterson” of Christian writing when it came to sales,
etc., when I stand before God on my judgement day, all those accolades would
have to be tossed at His feet, too. They do not measure up to the infinite
degree of grace I have received just like all my others works (Romans 3:9-24).
Triple Time (A Blake Meyer Thriller – Book 2) is the
continuation of Book 1. Blake has caught up to the nemesis of Book 1, Colin
Murphy, but the contagion is still in play. But after going through everything
in the first book, Book 2 opens with Blake being “granted” a chance to rest and
heal for a day. This timing seems grand as it is also the day of his daughter’s
fifth birthday party. But while the party is going on, and many friends and
family are enjoying the festivities, Murphy’s plans are still in motion, and
Blake and his family are attacked, launching them all into the rest of the
series. Here’s a look at the Back Cover Copy:
Supervisory Special Agent Blake Meyer has an impossible
choice to make. After thwarting a massive biological attack on the continental United States ,
the contagion is still missing and in the hands of the enemy. So is his family.
Abducted as an act of revenge.
The clock is ticking, and the chances of finding his wife
and children wane with every passing second. The assassin behind it holds all
the answers.
Or does she?
Three demands. Three choices. Blake Meyer knows what must be
done…but can he accomplish it before it’s too late? Time is literally of the
essence. And double time will not be fast enough.
Please give us the
first page of the book.
Home of Blake and Sara
Meyer
Blake Meyer checked his cell phone for the time. Six
o’clock.
Having fired up the grill, Blake stood on the back porch of his
family’s home overlooking the Atlantic . He’d
spent the last several days opening up doors into his past he never wanted to
revisit. Ones he’d kept hidden from his wife Sara and the kids until now.
Surely, Sara would have more questions about his life before marriage. But how
do you explain these things to your wife without making her scared of you?
He closed his eyes for a moment and allowed his senses to
sanitize his worries. Catching Colin Murphy had been exhausting, and the breeze
coming off the ocean mixed with the aroma of burgers on the grill relaxed his
mind.
The roar of a watercraft sped by, causing him to look. A skier
swished back and forth in a zig-zag pattern behind the boat, looking like
something out of the movie Jaws.
Farther out, little white specks—most likely shrimp boats and deep-sea fishing
charters—dotted the horizon.
Inside the house, a growing commotion brewed as more and
more relatives arrived for Little Sara’s big day, her fifth birthday. This
little girl held a special place in Blake’s heart. He’d always said she was
“the spittin’ image of her mother.” Even as a baby, she looked just like her
mom’s baby pictures. However, with each passing day, the resemblance became
even more striking. Now, at the age of five, it no longer was just the looks.
The facial expressions, the mannerisms, the flow of the hair, the lilt in her
voice…It was like he was getting the opportunity to watch his wife grow up
right in front of him, all the while knowing how she’ll turn out when she
becomes a woman.
Tomorrow night, the two sisters from down the street and the
little girl from Little Sara’s YMCA swimming class would come over for a
slumber party. Although Blake loved his daughter, he wasn’t sure if he could
handle four screaming banshees in the house being chased by an annoyed, older
brother. Blake smiled as he watched an older couple stroll by, hand in hand,
kicking at the surf. Sounds like a great time to finish those After Action
reports Connell’s demanding and get back up to speed on the investigation.
He flipped the burgers and listened to the mixture of
lapping waves and laughing family members. The simple fact of standing on his
patio, peering out at the ocean, an ocean, any ocean for that matter, was so
much like a dream.
Blake had spent over half his life fighting to keep the
country safe, so the people out on the ocean, those on the shore, and those in
his house—oblivious to the Colin Murphys and Arina Filipovs of the world—could
enjoy themselves. Life. Liberty .
And the pursuit of happiness. Those were what Blake fought to protect.
He also knew his presence on the ocean’s shore, coupled with
his FBI agent’s salary, made it all seem even more dreamlike…more like a fairy
tale.
How can readers find
you on the Internet?
They can find me in these locations:
My website: www.ckevinthompson.com
Kevin’s
Blog: www.ckevinthompson.blogspot.com/
Facebook: C. Kevin Thompson –
Author Fan Page
Twitter: @CKevinThompson
Goodreads: C.
Kevin Thompson
Amazon Author Page:
https://www.amazon.com/C.-Kevin-Thompson/e/B007ANOEDE/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1
Also, check in soon to my website for the links to my new
Pinterest page and Instagram page!
Readers, here are links to the book.
Triple Time (the Blake Meyer Thriller series) - PaperbackTriple Time (The Blake Meyer Thriller Series Book 2) - Kindle
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7 comments:
Finally, a book written for a man to enjoy.
As a church librarian it is very hard to find books that men would like to read.
Mr. Thompson's book is one that our men readers will be lining up for.
Janet E.
von1janet(at)gmail(dot)com
Florida
Thanks, Janet! I agree. (Ahem.)
I read "30 Days Hath Revenge" and thoroughly enjoyed it. "Triple Time" sounds intriguing. I would like to read it, and would love to win it.
Connie Leonard
Thank you, Connie! Appreciate the sentiment! Good luck!
Enter me!!
Conway SC.
Good luck, Sharon!
Thanks to everyone for stopping by!
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